From the Korea Times: “The National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Tuesday confirmed that North Korea recently enacted a law that prohibits money laundering… The enactment apparently aimed at settling the U.S. financial sanctions on a bank in Macau…” In other news, North Korea invents so-called ‘reverse psychology laws.’ The cadres love it.
In an article at the Asia Times, Riddles and enigmas from North Korea, Andrei Lankov speculates on how governments get intelligence from inside North Korea, and lists some of the other valuable sources of information from the country.
- #From Mainichi and via the Chosun Bimbo, "In his first reported appearance following news of his hospitalization, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il lost his temper while watching a college soccer match, denouncing several players' long hair as "disgusting," according to a source close to the North Korean government. The outburst was followed by a nationwide ban on long hair for men." We'll all be watching the next soccer match to see if it's so.
- #Outward Bound, an international non-profit outdoor education program, is offering fully funded (including transportation to/from sites) outdoor adventure excursions to all OEF/OIF veterans. It doesn't matter what your current military status is (active, inactive, discharged, retired) - you're eligible to attend as long as you deployed in support of OEF/OIF combat operations while in the military.
- #Via AFP: “South Korea has lifted an overseas travel ban on Hwang Jang-Yop, the highest-ranking North Korean defector ever to come here and a harsh critic of the Pyongyang regime. . . Hwang, former secretary of the ruling Workers' Party and an ex-tutor of Kim Jong-Il, defected during a trip to Beijing in 1997.” His travel restriction was due to 10 years of pro-North ROK leadership, now over.
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February 21st, 2007 at 12:14 pm
I think this is more than reverse psychology, by passing this law the gov’t is disowning its own actions in money laundering, implying that it was some lower-level independent activity that the government itself certainly had nothing to do with (perish the thought!).
This will “prove” that the DPRK is nixing such abhorrent behavior and having “taken care” of the situation without admitting any guilt or compliance in the situation can now receive whatever Banco Macao Delta funds that the Treasury can’t explicitly tie to any illicit activity.
It may never be enforced in North Korea but it gives the impression to the U.S. Treasury that they are addressing the problem without acknowledging any responsibility for it.